The Big Screen
By Jack Wyman
The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds—the pessimist fears this is true.
A man’s friends were stunned when he told them he was an optimist. “Then why do you always look so worried and depressed?” one of them asked.
“You think it’s easy being an optimist?” he replied.
Living as an optimist isn’t easy. It never has been.
The headlines are seldom hopeful, the outlook rarely confident, the projections infrequently positive. Bad news gets around the world twice, it’s been said, before good news gets its shoes tied in the morning.
There is little in this world that cheers us. This greeted us recently:
“At least 16 dead, dozens injured in shootings across the U.S. over Memorial Day weekend; the gun violence occurred at beaches, high schools and motorcycle rallies, among other locations, across at least eight states.”
We read about the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring a group of transgendered nuns calling themselves “The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.” The baseball team decided to present the Sisters its Community Hero Award. Following a tide of outrage, the Dodgers ran back to home plate. They rescinded the invitation.
The LGBTQ+ was enraged. The team, now caught between first and second base, re-invited the Sisters. They’d be honored after all—on “Pride Night”, June 16. In addition to provocative pole dancing on a Christian cross, the Sisters tell their fans, “go forth and sin some more.”
Dodgers star pitcher Clayton Kershaw announced the re-introduction of the team’s annual “Christian Faith and Family Day.” Run scored!
How a professional baseball team got entwined in something like this is anyone’s guess. It is, after all, LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Officially. It comes up automatically on my cell phone every June 1.
Then it was Target. The giant retailer became a bull’s-eye for many customers when it decided, in recognition of the June pride celebration, to place various transgendered items on its clothing rack. In the face of more widespread outrage, Target, like the Dodgers, backed down. It would remove items “at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior.”
The pessimist might shake his head in dismay. The optimist would at least be glad there was enough opposition—and consumer resistance—to bring about a change of plan.
Still, even the most determined optimist may be tempted to conclude that being well-informed on current events these days is a decided challenge to both heart and mind. Especially for the Christian. Followers of Jesus Christ are commanded not to give in to worry, despair, or fear—no matter what the latest headline may be.
In the face of all alarm, you and I are to remain vigilant, courageous, faithful, and persevering. We are also told by God to be joyful, confident, secure, hopeful—and loving toward all people.
We are commanded to be biblical optimists.
The world we see on social media and television, or in the papers, is not the whole picture. It’s not the final story. You and I must see this world on God’s big screen. We must embrace hope, not succumb to anguish. We must be filled with joy, not shrouded in sadness. We must be guided by a clarity of purpose and determination, not surrendered to the gloom of futility.
You and I must triumph, not despond. Pessimism should have no place in the Christian’s outlook.
When we give in to our baser instincts of hate and fear, and wallow in condemnation and worry, we tell the watching world we have no faith in a God who is in control and has a glorious plan for the future. We demoralize ourselves into practical atheists.
God is not mocked by Gay Pride Month or the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. He is angry with man’s rebellion “every day” (Psalm 7:11). As Jonathan Edwards famously pointed out, it is a fearful thing to be a sinner in the hands of an angry God.
What we sow to the wind of self-indulgence we will bitterly reap in the whirlwind of self-destruction.
You and I must also remember that these times are not new. Perhaps man has pushed the envelope of debauchery. He has abused his divine gift of creativity to invent new ways of sinning (Romans 1:30). But he’s the same fallen creature living in the same fallen world that has been since Eden.
Let us resolve to do what believers in every generation and every century have always resolved to do—to press on with unquenchable spirits to honor God by the way we live. Not to hate, but to remain firm.
In seeing the world on God’s big screen, you and I are able to grasp the big picture, the full story, and the happy ending. Jesus did not come to condemn the world but that the world may be saved through him (John 3:17). Jesus said that of himself and his mission
And of the times and the future, Jesus told us that when we see the signs, we are to stand and look up, “for your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). Not in despair, but in joy and gladness, we anticipate the return of our Lord in power and glory.
He will make new, he will restore, he will reconcile, he will unify. He will make a perfect home for his restored and perfect people. Forever.
A new heaven and a new earth. The place where evil is banished and goodness reigns.
Peter wrote to the persecuted Christians struggling to live their faith in a corrupt and brutal kingdom. Despite their trials and hardships, he commended them for believing in, and loving, a Savior they had not seen.
In their faith and love, these followers of Jesus rejoiced with an inexpressible joy, full of glory, full of hope, full of optimism.
For they knew that they would receive the end of their faith, the salvation of their souls (I Peter 1:8-9).
Do we have hope for anything less?
Look up! Press on!
Keep an eye on God’s big screen.
To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.
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